Pvt. John Sheahan on war losses, 1863

Description

Pvt. John Sheahan of the 1st Maine Cavalry wrote to his father, John, in Dennysville about the "glorious" work of the army over the summer. "Many a brave boy has fallen but this must be," he wrote. "some must be victims. but I have been preserved in a wonderful manner."

He also wrote that he pitied someone who had been drafted because conscripts were "treated like dogs more than like men."